Festival will highlight the county’s waterfront
Event will help raise money for aviation museum

By Kristi Funderburk (Baltimore Sun, May 12, 2006)

When a dozen seaplanes touch down on Martin’s Lagoon, the festival will begin.

The second Baltimore County Community Waterfront Festival, set for tomorrow in Middle River, includes music, food and crafts – and, naturally, a boat show.

It also offers a chance to learn about an aviation pioneer, meet an astronaut and climb into the cockpit of a fighter jet.

Some of the proceeds from the festival, which is designed to highlight the county’s 175 miles of waterfront, will go to the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum.

Throughout the day, visitors can tour the museum’s new exhibits and get a close look at a small squadron of aircraft.

About 20,000 people are expected to attend, and $40,000 to $45,000 is expected to be raised, said John Markley, deputy director of the county’s Department of Recreation and Parks, which organized the festival.

John Tipton, the aviation museum’s marketing communications director, said money from the event will go toward building an education center for engineering and, later, a larger museum.

“We’re a small museum, a little unknown and out of the way,” he said, “but we want to become a cultural destination point for the community.”